Arrow
by IHKF
Summary: "Forgive me, Miss… I cannot leave with you as I have promised." He looked back down towards Ayumi, whose rosy cheeks were still fading with each second. "I cannot leave a little girl here by herself- not when she's so afraid of monsters."


Lucy fell to the floor, covering her sobs in her hands, her tears pouring out and lashing at the grime around her. She soon felt Adriade's presence as he bent down next to her, shivering in woe as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Kasumi shifted her entire body, taking quickly paced steps away from the scene, the back of her hand to her forehead as she did her best to hold back the tears that were imposing on her eyes. Yamato himself closed his eyes, Mary's back fighting its way under his arm- a battle in which it won. Her blonde hair rested against his chest. She shook and shook, biting both of her lips. She had brought this upon them all. An older man lay on his back behind them all, both hands placed over his chest with composure.

Mitch stared down at the limp, frail body he held in the air, tears pouring at a much more alarming rate than that of anybody else's. His glasses clouded with the misty salt water as he choked and bawled.

Ayumi hung lifelessly in his arms, her ordinarily pink lips formed in a straight, blue line. Her head drooped over his arms and her legs dangled with every shake his body made, reminding him every moment that she was gone. She was never coming back.

Well, she was but…

Lucy's wails echoed throughout the room, the blonde not being afraid to cry every now and then. Her breathing was becoming increasingly labored, her breaths short and silent. Adriade silently scooped her upper half into a bear hug, hushing her snivels against his red-clothed chest.

"What do we do…? What do we do now?"

Nobody wanted to say it. Nobody wanted to admit that this had just happened- that their youngest had given her life by stabbing her stone in an attempt to kill the man responsible for the presence of everyone there. The purple glow that once radiated from her glittery jewel had become a light shimmer when she stabbed it with an arrow that missed its target, slowly fading until it was just a simple purple rock. It almost seemed like something you could get at a dollar store. Secretly they all despised the thought that their lights still burned with a vengeance. Lucy's orange, Adriade's yellow, Kasumi's blue, and Yamato's pale green.

Nobody could have stopped it. Not one person could have done anything to stop Ayumi from doing what she did. Those stones represented their life-force, but if one of them was so selfless as to kill themselves, which the dead man behind them knew they wouldn't, just one broken stone would take his life as well- unless he himself broke it. Then only the person besides him tied to the stone would die. He was the one who brought the curse.

It was his rules.

Remind them of how selfish they truly were- every one of them. Play with them. Toy with their mind.

It had worked up until now.

Ayumi had been protected by the knocked out Mitch as he laid in front of her, shielded from the torture that the rest of her friends were enduring. Lucy was strung to the wall by vines, knocked unconscious from the abuse her body had suffered from the battle. Adriade was lying on his back, eyes closed as he breathed shallowly. Kasumi was on her knees, still fighting for her final breaths in battle before one of those… THINGS, those MONSTERS gripped her neck, robbing her of the little air she still held as she fell to their clutches. Yamato was down for the count on his side, Mary hollering and crying and begging for him to open his eyes and not 'leave her like this'.

The seven-year-old had watched helplessly as Mary was gripped by the man, her wrist being the limb he reached for. She had cried for him to let go, begged him "DADDY LET GO! WAKE UP!" but that didn't even faze him. Ayumi's uncle's grip tightened on his daughter's arm, growling as he held the knife to her throat, mumbling about her being a sacrifice whether she wished for it or not. His grey mustache scrunched up in anger, his white beard moving with his mouth as his two rows of teeth clashed against one another. The green eyes scanned over Mary's body, her light pink dress with a gold ribbon around her neck dirty and ripped, giving away her attempts to help the fallen group.

At this point, Ayumi had spotted one of Kasumi's fallen arrows (the man had cleverly, or with a sudden stroke of common sense taken away her weapons and the like- it wouldn't do to have a ninja have such an advantage) laying on the ground.

It was then that the idea had occurred to her.

"We have to go, now."

"We have to bury her at least!"

"NO!" Yamato's sudden scream erupted and scared most of their small group out of their cries. "No, you idiots. She'll just reincarnate in twenty minutes and keep dying the same horrible death over and over again!"

"What do we do then?" Kasumi interrupted Yamato's angered rant, snapping the young man back to the current situation as a whole rather than just 1/3 of the picture- no matter how much bigger and more gruesome and demanding of attention that picture was. He stopped and thought about it for a minute, placing a hand on his head.

His eyes trailed from Kasumi to Mary to Lucy & Adriade and finally, to Mitch and the unmoving girl being held tightly in his arms. "We… we need to just set her down and… and get out of here. That's why she did what she did. So we could go on free."

"No."

Mitch's soft, calming (sometimes frightening when he's angered), all-knowing voice finally made itself presentable, although it was still a bit quirky and hard to read- staggering in some places. "I'm staying here."

"Are you crazy?!" Adriade stood up like lightning, his icy glare sending chills down Lucy's spine. "What for?!"

"I couldn't leave her here alone, even if I tried." He turned his head, back still facing the group, to Mary. "Forgive me, Miss… I cannot leave with you as I have promised." He looked back down towards Ayumi, whose rosy cheeks were still fading with each second. "I cannot leave a little girl here by herself- not when she's so afraid of monsters."

As a group, they decided that they would wait for the little one to wake up from her death, laying her down on the bed that Mary had been sleeping in only that morning, locked away in her bedroom- NOT a tower, mind you. When crescent blue eyes slowly opened, they were instantly filled with tears of fear. She had weeped something awful about being left there alone, but made it clear that she would make the same choice again if given the chance. Mitch had smiled and shared with her that he would forever stay by her side until the day that the twisting old castle was no more.

That day would be their last.

As the group of 5 walked down the dissipated stone path that lead to the freedom they had wished to achieve for months, Ayumi watched them, slowly smiling harmoniously as she delicately waved her free hand. The other one was grasping tightly onto Mitch's as he exchanged goodbye's as well, getting tighter as the figures took one last look back before walking on the track that would lead them home.

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Yes. Yes Lucy is from Fairy Tail. Ayumi is from Detective Conan. Kasumi is from Dead or Alive. Yamato is BASED on the Yamato from Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai. Mary is BASED on Mary from Ib, as is the idea of an item being tied to one's life. The monsters and the castle they were in is based HEAVILY upon Amnesia. Adriade is based on Apollo from Aquarion. Mary's father and Ayumi's uncle is simply a fan-character made up completely from my mind.

I hope you all enjoyed the very random one-shot.

And once again, YES. You are to make assumptions about things that have happened and what the story is about. No, you're not supposed to entirely get it. Heck, if you want to make your own fanfic based on this crack-fic I came up with listening to "Make a Move" by Icon for Hire then go ahead. In fact, I'd love to read that. XD I have too much on my plate to write it.


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